(HURON COUNTY, ON) – The annual Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) Festive Reduce Impaired Driving Everywhere (R.I.D.E) campaign has officially come to an end and the numbers in Huron County show nearly all drivers did in fact “get the message”. Festive R.I.D.E is a province-wide campaign to create visibility and increase awareness about the dangers of driving while under the influence of alcohol and other drugs.
The highly visible campaign started on November 23, 2015 and came to an end on January 2, 2016. During this years’ campaign, Huron County OPP officers conducted a total of 245 R.I.D.E checkpoints. This impressive total was the most any OPP Detachment in the province. Although the exact number of vehicles that entered these checkpoints is not known it is safe to say thousands of drivers entered into a Huron County OPP R.I.D.E checkpoint during the campaign.
Of the thousands of driver contacts made Huron OPP officers charged a total of four (4) drivers with Impaired Driving/Over 80 offences and another four (4) were served with warn-range administrative driver’s license suspensions. Officers also identified other Highway Traffic Act, Compulsory Automobile Insurance Act, Controlled Drugs and Substances Act and Criminal Code offences at these checkpoints.
Last year, Huron OPP charged 19 drivers with Impaired Driving/Over 80 offences and another 3 were served with warn-range administrative driver’s license suspensions.
Huron OPP is very encouraged to see the positive results from this year’s successful campaign. Looking forward into 2016, Huron OPP officers will continue with their regular R.I.D.E checkpoints in an effort to keep our Huron County roadways as safe as possible.